Primary Menu

Tag blonde

I’ve always been a fan of dyeing my hair in the comfort of my own home. Ever since I was a teenager and experimented with that first box of bleach from Walgreens, I knew it was over. I’ve had a wide range of the colors of the rainbow on my head. I’ve went through stages of wanting deep Violet hair, then wanting it to be black, then wait- no. I wanted to be blonde. I’ve put forest green on top of some other faded color, then just said “Well nothing’s gonna cover this but black.” It wasn’t my best month.

But what I’m trying to say is my hair has been through a LOT. All of that time processing chemicals on your strands will leave your hair in a fragile state. I will admit I’ve had elastic-y hair in the past from too much time processing bleach. And I noticed my hair started to do that as well this time around with bleaching, but I had already planned to cut my hair into a lob, so I wasn’t too worried about the ends becoming a little fried. After the cut, my hair has never felt healthier, even after going platinum.

So how did I accomplish this? Well, I will start by saying that patience is key. When I decided to go blonde this time, I didn’t hop right in my car and drive to Sally’s. This is because I had just recently dyed my hair black, and I needed to let my hair rest and let the black dye fade. Luckily for me, dark dyes don’t stick to my hair very well, and I didn’t use a filler so it faded to a nice brown in about 2 months. I used Neutrogena’s clarifying shampoo a few times (not every time because that stuff is super drying) and made sure to use some kind of leave in conditioner after every shower.

Once I felt like all the dye that would come out with showers and stripping it lightly with shampoo was done, I decided to then use a treatment of Color Oops. I’m not the biggest fan of this stuff, it smells really bad, I always have a hard time getting the smell to leave my hair. But I decided to do it regardless. I ordered it off Amazon, and didn’t realize until I opened the box and was ready to get started that I ordered the extra conditioning one instead of the extra strength. So it wasn’t as strong (or strong at all) and only lifted my hair one level. Lame. So I just went ahead and used Olaxplex No3 on my hair that week to prep it.

So about a week later, when I finally decided to jump the gun and do the first round of bleach, I ended up going to Sally’s to pick up everything I needed, which is: gloves (at least 5 pairs), mixing bowl, mixing brush, shower caps (again, at least 5), L’oreal Quick Blue powder bleach, Wella Color Charm Toner T18 (2), and 2 containers of developer, one 20 and one 30.

For my first bleach session, I ended up only bleaching one side of my head to have more control over processing times. I just brushed my hair out, parted it right down the middle, and braided the right side tightly against my head to keep it out of the way. My hair was unwashed for at least 2-3 days before I bleached to have more oils in my hair. I mixed the powder with the 30 level developer with the ratio 1:2. I really saturated the left side of my hair and let that sit for about 20 minutes. I repeated this on my right side the next morning.

The results were just what I expected. My hair was a rusty rose color with blonde roots. My natural dirty blonde roots had lifted right away and were pretty much ready to tone, but the rest of my hair was still clinging to that deep red color I had done last year. Bummer. But I wasn’t defeated. I was determined to go platinum, and I knew this was a process.

Taken after bleaching 2 times

I made the decision to bleach my hair every weekend and to use Olaplex throughout the week to help with the damage. This took 4 weeks, 4 weekends of completely saturating my hair from top to bottom with bleach and putting a shower cap over it for 20-25 minutes each time. I used the 30 developer the first 2 times, and 20 developer the other 2 times. This resulted in my hair being blonde when dry, but still a bit pink when wet. This doesn’t bother me, I didn’t think damaging my hair even further with another application of bleach to attempt to lift it out was worth it.

Right after the fourth and final bleaching I applied the toner to my damp hair. I mixed the Wella Color Charm T18 Toner with level 20 developer and ran that all through my hair. This mixture is very runny and I suggest you use a towel around your shoulders to help with the dripping. You can also use it when your hair is dry but I was impatient to tone it and I do believe the water helps dilute it for a more even tone. I let that sit for 35 minutes and then really washed and conditioned my hair well. The next morning it still had a little dusty feeling from leftover toner so next time I’ll probably shampoo twice. I use Not Your Mother’s Blonde Moment purple shampoo and conditioner.

The result: platinum hair! Yaaay! I cut about 6 inches off my hair and have been loving it ever since. I read a lot of articles and watched a lot of Youtube videos on others attempting this at home before trying this. I was super nervous at first that I would be stuck with bright orange hair that just wouldn’t lighten. But I got exactly what I wanted. If you’re considering trying this yourself, I say go for it! It really was an easy task for me and I didn’t mind having not so cute hair for a month to accomplish it. If you need a friend to help you, don’y worry, not many people can see the back of their head.

This has given me a much needed confidence boost- I catch myself staring at it all day long. Cutting off all my dead hair felt like a weight was being lifted, revealing a brand new me who’s ready to do anything.